Filed under: Motorsports , Lexus , Toyota Toyota is bringing its various overseas racing activities under the common banner of Gazoo Racing and the purview of its new Motor Sports Group, coordinating the company’s various racing activities around the world. Continue reading Toyota amalgamates motorsports divisions under Gazoo Racing Toyota amalgamates motorsports divisions under Gazoo Racing originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 10 Apr 2015 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Filed under: Coupe , Toyota , Racing Toyota Motorsport GmbH has developed cars for all manner of racing, up to and including Formula One and Le Mans . But it got its start back in 1979 in rally competition, winning four drivers’ and three manufacturers’ titles in the World Rally Championship . And now it’s announced a new rally car. Based on the Toyota GT86 (better known to us as the Scion FR-S ), the CS-R3 rally car isn’t built to contest the top tier of the WRC, but is being developed to conform to the lower R3 class. That means a six-speed sequential gearbox, limited slip differential and upgraded engine, brakes, aero… the works. It’ll retain the road-going model’s rear-drive setup, joining the front-drive Yaris R1A in TMG’s portfolio of customer rally cars. Further details are set to be revealed “in the coming months”, but the GT86 CS-R3 will benefit from the experience TMG accrued in developing the GT86 CS-V3 (pictured above) for the N

Filed under: Sedan , Performance , Lexus , Toyota There’s little question that Lexus has succeeded in challenging its German rivals in the luxury marketplace. And with the LFA , it has proven that Japan can build a world-class supercar. What’s left blank is the space in between. Toyota Motorsport GmbH came up with a compelling answer in the form of the Sports 650 prototype, a Lexus LS with a 5.0-liter twin-turbo V8 producing 641 horsepower and other go-fast components to challenge the likes of the Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG and Audi S8 . Toyota boss Akio Toyoda was reportedly so impressed with the project that he initially ordered TMG to build ten examples – one for him and each of his nine best friends. But since the model on which the project was based has since been replaced, questions remain over the project’s fate. Georg Kacher – European correspondent for Automobile and Car magazines – recently drove the prototype and reports that “the project will now likely be transferred to the new model out in 2015.” That could come down purely to speculation, but Kacher tends to get the inside line on industry news, so this particular bowl of gossip soup might not requite the usual grain of salt we otherwise might add. TMG Lexus LS Sports 650 destined for production after 2015? originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 01 Nov 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .

Filed under: Performance , Lexus , Scion , Toyota , Luxury It has been said before, but this time we hope we’re joining Toyota in saying it again: the brand should build proper performance cars like it did over a decade ago. Apparently, at least one person at the Japanese automaker agrees. Auto Express recently spoke with Toyota Europe Executive Vice President Karl Schlicht, who said: “We are currently discussing sport lines for Toyota models. There is an appetite for Toyota to do credible performance cars.” And there’s evidence that the Japanese automaker is taking performance seriously. First there’s the excellent Scion FR-S (known as the Toyota GT86 overseas), a joint-development with Subaru . And then there are other less-subtle projects and concepts like the Lexus LS Sports 650 shown above, a 650-horsepower super-sedan developed by Toyota Motorsport GmbH , and the more recent Toyota Yaris Hybrid-R , a 420-hp super capacitor-equipped hybrid hatchback, which also was developed by TMG. All of this leads us to ask two questions: is TMG gearing up to be Toyota’s next official performance brand? Will it have a hand in the development of a successor to the revered but long-dead Supra? We’re not sure, but let’s assume Toyota rules out another established sub-brand to produce performance cars, Toyota Racing Development. TRD has produced performance parts and accessories for awhile, and has even produced sport-oriented vehicles in some markets, but there’s little evidence it will be part of a serious performance initiative at Toyota.

Filed under: Performance , Lexus , Scion , Toyota , Luxury It has been said before, but this time we hope we’re joining Toyota in saying it again: the brand should build proper performance cars like it did over a decade ago. Apparently, at least one person at the Japanese automaker agrees. Auto Express recently spoke with Toyota Europe Executive Vice President Karl Schlicht, who said: “We are currently discussing sport lines for Toyota models. There is an appetite for Toyota to do credible performance cars.” And there’s evidence that the Japanese automaker is taking performance seriously. First there’s the excellent Scion FR-S (known as the Toyota GT86 overseas), a joint-development with Subaru . And then there are other less-subtle projects and concepts like the Lexus LS Sports 650 shown above, a 650-horsepower super-sedan developed by Toyota Motorsport GmbH , and the more recent Toyota Yaris Hybrid-R , a 420-hp super capacitor-equipped hybrid hatchback, which also was developed by TMG. All of this leads us to ask two questions: is TMG gearing up to be Toyota’s next official performance brand? Will it have a hand in the development of a successor to the revered but long-dead Supra? We’re not sure, but let’s assume Toyota rules out another established sub-brand to produce performance cars, Toyota Racing Development. TRD has produced performance parts and accessories for awhile, and has even produced sport-oriented vehicles in some markets, but there’s little evidence it will be part of a serious performance initiative at Toyota.

Filed under: Sedan , Performance , Europe , Lexus , Toyota If you’re going to make a super sedan, you’d better do it in Germany. That’s where Audi , BMW and Mercedes-Benz do it, along with third parties like Alpina , Brabus and G-Power , among others. Deutschland is the epicenter of the movement, regularly churning out the most powerful four-door rockets in the world. It’s also where one of the racing divisions for Toyota has been hard at work on the TMG Sports 650 . Toyota Motorsport GmbH started with a Lexus LS and turned it into a 641-horsepower, twin-turbocharged super sedan it revealed late last year at the Essen Motor Show. But though we haven’t heard much about it since then, the team behind Toyota’s F1 and Le Mans efforts are apparently still hard at work on the project. Speaking with Lexus’ own UK blog, TMG chief Alastair Moffitt revealed that the project started way back in 2010, shortly after Toyota shut down its F1 program and left the racing team with nothing to do. The 5.0-liter twin-turbo V8 was initially producing as much as 800 horsepower, but has since been refined to 650 so that it could theoretically be put into production and onto the road. That’s something TMG hasn’t done before, but is keen to start, positioning itself alongside Toyota Racing Development in the US and Gazoo Racing in Japan as an in-house tuning division which Toyota and Lexus could rely on for this kind of project. To that end, TMG has been testing its prototype at the N

Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG) will demonstrate its high-performance electric powertrain technology on one of North America’s most demanding motorsport events; the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado on 8 July.